Interactive TV News Round-Up (V): MONKEYmedia, Kabel BW, NDS, Netflix, Weinstein Company

Because the [itvt] editorial team has been working on The TV of Tomorrow Show 2012, we are covering stories in this issue in round-up/summary format.

• MONKEYmedia--a company which holds a portfolio of patents that it says include "claims directed towards telescopic video-on-demand (VOD) and other enhanced viewing experiences," and that it claims "are essential to the practice of various industry-governed standards such as DVD-Video, Blu-ray and tru2way (e.g. Enhanced TV/EBIF and SCTE-130)" (note: the company has launched a "SeamlessTV Partner Program" for licensing those patents, and, back in 2006, announced that it had succeeded in convincing Microsoft to enter into a patent-licensing agreement with it--for more on the company and its claims, see the articles published on itvt.com, February 16th, 2011 and August 25th, 2009; and the interview with its founder, Eric Gould Bear, published on itvt.com, October 8th, 2009)--said Tuesday that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued it a new patent--entitled "System and method for transmission of telescopic advertising"--containing 80 new claims in the field of interactive advertising. "US Patent No. 8,122,143 defines systems and methods for transmitting optional content to users without leaving the context of an audio and/or video program currently being played," the company states in its press materials. "The main stream of content pauses while the user engages the ancillary material, then resumes playing when the expansion is done. The invention of Seamless Expansion, which MONKEYmedia reduced to practice in the 1990's before the advent of DVD's, provides viewers with the freedom to explore topics in greater depth based on their personal interests. Current applications of the Seamless Expansion technology covered by MONKEYmedia's newest patent include the transmission of advertisements to Blu-ray players as well as in-stream telescopic advertising to TV, mobile devices and the Internet." Said MONKEYmedia CEO, Eric Gould Bear: "Seamless Expansion is one of the best ways to empower consumers of interactive media. The more control you give the audience, the more engaged they become. When deployed in a movie, the viewer builds deeper relationships with the characters, actors, director and studio. If the expansion is an ad in your TiVo, iPhone app or YouTube video, the viewer builds stronger affinity with all the brands involved. Since choice is placed in the hands of the user, the impact is quite potent and the technique is hard to beat."
• Interactive TV and conditional access technology provider, NDS, said Tuesday that German cable operator, Kabel BW, has launched CI+ modules based on its VideoGuard conditional access system. Kabel BW has been using NDS's CA technology for over five years. "CI+ allows manufacturers to launch a wide range of devices such as integrated digital TV sets that can easily and securely provide access to Kabel BW's premium TV programming through plug-in CI+ modules," NDS states in its press materials. Said NDS's general manager for the EMEA region, Yves Padrines: "As one of Germany's largest cable operators Kabel BW are in a great position to expand the reach of their service to further devices. With a quality content offering, their new CI+ modules ensure that an ever increasing number of people have access to their platform."
• Netflix said Tuesday that it has signed a new multi-year agreement with The Weinstein Company (TWC) that will make foreign-language, documentary and certain other movies from the latter exclusively available in the US on Netflix's instant streaming service. Among other things, the deal means that the 10-time Academy Award nominee, "The Artist," will "make its pay-TV debut exclusively on Netflix rather than on traditional premium cable," Netflix states in its press materials.